Pressure is mounting in an effort to change a law in North Carolina that allows 16- and 17-year-olds who commit misdemeanors be handled as adults.
This kind of law only exists in North Carolina and New York.
“If you don’t change this law, those kids out there, bunches of them are going to commit misdemeanors and they’re going to be subject to a lifelong commitment of a stupid mistake they made,” retired New Bern Police Chief Frank Palumbo said.
Palumbo supports a proposed bill called the “Young Offenders Rehabilitation Act.”
It would change the current law that says teenagers who commit minor offense can be tried as adults.
For some perspective, a 16-year-old who steals a bag of chips could end up in the Wake County Detention center with adult offenders.
“We’re talking about them being sexually abused, physically abused, and emotionally abused many times [in jail],” Rep.Jean Farmer-Butterfield (D-Pitt) said.
Similar bills have been circulating for more than a decade in the state legislature but have never passed.
The North Carolina Sheriff Association said if approved, the bill would cost taxpayers millions a year to build and then maintain juvenile facilities.
“The association is against the bill as it’s currently constituted,” Eddie Caldwell with North Carolina Sheriff’s Association said.
Caldwell said if lawmakers pulled the money from elsewhere to pay for it, they would be more supportive of the bill.
“We would certainly be interested in looking into that bill and seeing what it does,” Caldwell said.
Rob Thompson with NC Child said children who are put in the juvenile system are less likely to commit another crime than children put the adult system.
In 2014, more than 8,000 juveniles were charged as adults for misdemeanor crimes in North Carolina.
If the bill passes in the House it will be introduced in the Senate.
Gov. Pat McCrory hasn’t said whether or not he supports the legislation.